When you Google yourself or your company, do you like what you see in the digital mirror? Does your reputation sparkle, or have you been blemished with negative feedback? No matter your starting point, ReputationSimple can expertly overhaul your online presence. An Internet makeover will make you or your operation more attractive to searchers — putting more money in your pocket and helping you land more opportunities. The process involves knowing what’s being said online – and counteracting poor or fake reviews with positive information.

Let ReputationSimple help you look your best to outsiders. Contact us today to get your makeover started with a comprehensive assessment.

Reputation Makeover: Why You Need One, How It’s Done

If you’re a hard-working professional, you may assume that your success depends on your merit alone. Do right by those who trust you, always give 100 percent, and you can only prosper, right?

Wrong. Especially in a world shaped by the Internet and social media, perception is reality. For a person or organization trying to establish good word of mouth online, the truth Is what commenters and reviewers say it is. Even the most technologically savvy pros in any industry can benefit from a reputation makeover, whether it takes their standing from poor to good or from good to great.

What does such an overhaul entail? The following are some steps a person or business should take if their online identity needs improvement.

1) Take Inventory

An effective makeover begins by assessing the current situation. Will someone find a slew of negative feedback in a Google search, or even one or two unflattering comments? Are your best qualities and attributes well represented in the first 10 Google results? If you were an outsider deciding whether to deal with you or your organization, would the buzz online seal the deal – or send you packing?

Determine what fixes are needed – and you can better devise a targeted plan. ReputationSimple can provide expert, easy-to-understand analysis – grading your standing from “A” (Excellent) to “F” (Very Poor) — and put you on the road to reputation recovery with a customized strategy.

2) Take Corrective Action

According to several studies, very few online searchers (10 percent or below) look beyond the first page of results. That’s great news for anyone with less-than-favorable material ranking toward the top.

Generating – and posting — some carefully crafted content serves several important functions. Mainly, it knocks the negative items out of the prime positions, a process called suppression. For example, a restaurant – no matter how good the food or the service – is bound to have a few dissatisfied customers, who then post their complaints on social media or a rating platform like Yelp. Even if the reviews are generally good, a small number of bad ones can spoil the bunch.

That restaurant, working with top reputation management firm ReputationSimple, can revamp its image by emphasizing the establishment’s strengths – and forcing the criticism down. Putting the right keywords and terms in the right places ensures the positive content you want searchers to see always ranks highest.

While it’s a good idea for a person or company to be mindful of their social media activity and be proactive about their approach to reputation management, they would do better not to undertake this task alone. ReputationSimple will expertly handle every aspect of the process, producing glowing content that will put you in the best light.

3) Take Control

Regularly releasing your own high-quality material shows you to be active and engaged with your audience. And when you encounter a critique, a timely, courteous response can negate the impact.

Let’s say you own a service business, and someone posts a claim that your company didn’t meet his standards in some way. If you reach out to that commenter and pledge to make amends, a searcher will see that you’re paying attention and care about your customers’ happiness.

Plus, if you’re staying connected, you’re more likely to notice setbacks to your efforts and address them before they reach crisis level. Rather than letting others dictate your future, don’t wait to take control of your own destiny.

Lead – Don’t Follow

Poor first impressions are hard to overcome, and online, you’re being judged 24-7 without a chance to explain or defend yourself. That’s why these days, the person or company that doesn’t stay ahead of the Internet noise – and put out the most powerful, visible message about their own brand — falls behind. According to a GE Capital study, more than 80 percent of consumers consult the Internet before making a purchase – so ignoring the detractors is not an option. Your only recourse is to make the good commentary more prominent than the bad and direct the conversation as much as possible.

Just as a beautician uses mascara and lipstick to highlight a woman’s best features – and concealer to camouflage imperfections – a reputation management specialist can make clients look their best to the outside world. No one should miss out on opportunities or lose money because of some negative feedback that doesn’t fully represent who they are.

Almost no one appears perfect online. It’s not the negative information out there, but how well you manage and respond to it, that makes the difference.

About ReputationSimple

ReputationSimple helps control your digital footprint and reputation narrative to dominate page one with positive and engaging results.

Since 2013, ReputationSimple has been enhancing online reputations by providing done for you review collection services, reputation management as well as staff reputation training and support.